Hollywood employee used city stationery for letter supporting former cop

January 18, 2012|By Tonya Alanez, Sun Sentinel

HOLLYWOOD — It was a no-no for an information technology employee to write a judge on city stationery voicing his support of convicted former police officer Dewey Pressley.

When Robert Carlson typed out a missive on city letterhead saying "the city needs many more officers like Dewey Pressley," he violated city policy and now faces disciplinary action because of it, city spokeswoman Raelin Storey said Tuesday.

"It is a violation of city policy for a city employee to utilize city stationery for personal use or to represent their personal views," Storey said. "So we'll be looking into this situation and appropriate disciplinary action will be taken based on our findings."

Carlson, a desktop support manager who has worked for the city for 13 years, also used his city email to submit an identical copy of his letter to the judge.

"Now that you mention it, it did not occur to me that that was a problem," Carlson said Wednesday. "That could get me in trouble."

After fellow officer Joel Francisco rear-ended a car while talking on his cellphone nearly two years ago, Pressley was recorded by a dashboard camera saying he would do "a little Walt Disney" to protect him.

Pressley's reports placed the entire blame on the other driver, who had stopped in the roadway and was legally drunk and failed videotaped field sobriety tests.

A jury on Dec. 6 found Pressley guilty of doctoring crash and DUI reports related to the Feb. 16, 2009, incident.

At sentencing Friday, Pressley, 45, faced up to two years in jail for two misdemeanor convictions of falsifying reports.

The letters from Pressley's family, friends, neighbors, police officers and people he's recently worked for as a handyman cited his dedication, honesty and trustworthiness and asked the judge to have mercy on a man who had dedicated his life to public service.

Along with the letters, Pressley's defense attorney, Rhea Grossman, gave the judge a petition for leniency with 93 signatures.

Among those who signed were more than 50 police officers, nearly a dozen community service officers, seven detectives, Sgt. Bill Price and police department spokeswoman Lt. Diana Pereira.

In his letter to the judge, Carlson said Pressley was vocal about an initial system of DUI cameras that proved troublesome and they worked together installing the new camera systems in the patrol cars and field testing them.

"No one knew more about this camera system than Officer Pressley," Carlson wrote.

"My reaction when seeing the video, the first time was 'Well, that's just Dewey,'" Carlson wrote. "It is a shame and ironic this fine officer, and honorary computer technician got tripped up by his loud mouth and abrasive attitude. He stood his ground fighting against a poor camera system and worked harder than any of us to make it right. Officer Pressley earned my respect and admiration. The city needs many more officers like Dewey Pressley."

Robinson sentenced Pressley to 90 days in jail. He will, however, remain free on bond while his attorneys appeal his case. That process could take as long as two years.